Loading and unloading apparatus



July 3, 1923. 1,460,466

J. A. WORSHAM LOADING AND UNLOADING APPARATUS Filed March 6, 1920 3Sheets-Sheet 1 I 1 l I I l I l 1 1 I E L J W/TNESSES llVl/E/VTOI? WWI/6&c/Tfl. Wham BY Z July 3, 1923.

J. A. WORSHAM LOADING AND UNLOADING APPARATUS Filed March's. 1920 5Sheets-Sheet 2 WITNESSES N/CUZ/U L MW ATTORNEYS July 3, 1923.

J. A. WORSHAM LOADING AND UNLOADING APPARATUS Filed March 6, 1920 3Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented July 3, 1923 NET JAMES AIlVIN WORSHAM, OF MAROA,ILLINOIS;

LOADING vANID UNLOADING APPARATUS.

Application filed March 6, 1920.

To all/whom it may concern Be it known that I, JAMES A. WORSI-IAM, acitizen of the United States, and a resident of Maroa, in the county ofMacon and State of Illinois, have invented a new and Improved Loadingand Unloading Apparatus, of which the following is a full, clear, andexact description,

, This invention relates to improvements in loading and unloadingapparatus, and more particularly to an apparatus for loading freightcars and the like which is especially designed for handling ear corn,but can, of course, be used forloading various other materials, anobject of the invention being to provide a portable device of thecharacter stated which will be automatic in its operation, causing thetilting of a wagon or other body to discharge its contents intoahopper,then'feeding the material to the desired elevation andcausing it to fallinto a pneumatic discharge tube through which a blast of air is directedto propel or convey the corn or other material into the car and discharge the .same with such force that the car can be completely andevenly loaded.

.A further object is to provide an appae ratus of the character statedwhich will reduce labor to a minimum, whichwill not in jure the materialhandled, and which will greatly'facilitate the loading and unloadingoperation.

With these and other objects in view the inrention consists in certainnovel features of construction, and combinations and arrangements ofparts as will be more fully hereinafter described and pointed out in theclaim.

In the accompanying drawings- Figure lis a viewin side elevationillustratingv my improved apparatus in operative position;

.Figure'2 is a view mainly in longitudinal section through theapparatus. but showing adjacent cooperating parts in elevation;

Figure 3 is a view in elevation showing the wagon elevating apparatusand illustrating in section the hopper into which the wa on bodydischarges;

igure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary elevation showing the wagon elevatingapparatus;

Figure 5 illustrates in plan the adjustable discharge spoutson the endsof the pneumatic conveyor; and

Figure 6 is a view in longitudinal section Serial No. 363,660.

through a portion of the pneumatic conveyor. a

My improved apparatus is supported mainly upon a frame 1, thelatterhaving wheels 2 supporting the same so that the apparatus can beconveniently moved from place to place. A lower casing 3 is mountedcentrally on the frame 1 and contains'a rotary blower 4 of any approvedconstruction which will give the necessary blast from the casing 3through an outlet spout'5. A conveyor tube 6'communicates with theoutlet end of the spout 5 and this conveyor tube 6 is made with a pairof branches 7 for discharging the material into a freight car 8 or otherreceptacle. Curved outlet spouts9 are pivotally connected to the ends ofthe branch pipes 7 as shown at 10in Figure 5, so that these outletspouts can be variously positioned to direct the material to differentportions of the car body and allow. the car to be entirely filledwithout changing the position of the main apparatus.

At the point of juncture between the conveyor tube 6 andthe branches 7,a hinged gate 9 is located and is controlled by a'hand lever 10outsideof the tube and this gate. can be positioned at any desired angleto direct the material in the desired proportion through the branchpipes 7. It is frequently desirable to adjust this gate because thepneumatic draft may'have a tendency to. force the material through onebranch in excess of the materialforced through the other and by movingthis gate slightly, the

discharge can be made uniform or can be regulated to suit conditions.

An inclined frame 11 is mounted on the supporting frame 1 and in thisframe 11. an endless conveyor 12 is located and is adapted to convey thematerial to the desired elevation and discharge the same through a chute13 into the tube 6 at a point removed from the blower 4.- A lip or guide14: is provided in the tube 6 which extends downwardly and forwardly atthe rear wall of the inlet opening 15 so as to direct the mate'- rialdownwardly and forwardly away from the blower at so as to prevent anypossibility of the material falling into the blower cas ing and also toguide the material into a position to receive the force ofthe draft ofair to convey the same into the car and pre vent the air from blowing upthrough the feed spout.

A hopper l6 ishingedly connected at one end as shown at 17, to the frame11 so that it can be swung upwardly to the position shown in dottedlines in Figure 1, when it is desired to move the conveyor from place toplace so as to allow a wagon or other receptacle illustrated by thenumeral 18 to be moved into or out of rolling position. This hopper 16is normally in approximately horizontal position supported upon suitablelegs 19 and having an endless conveyor 20 mounted therein for receivingand directing the material discharged from the wagon onto the inclinedconveyor 12 as indicated by the arrows in Figure 2. A counterbalancedspring 21 connects the hopper 16 with the frame 11 so as tocounterbalance the weight of the hopper and facilitate its upwardtilting movement as occasion may require.

The wagon 18, above referred to, is caused to elevate at its front endso as to tilt the body of the wagon and discharge the contents thereofthrough the rear end of the body into the hopper 16 and the apparatusfor performing this wagon elevating or tilting means is illustrated mostclearly in Fig ures 2, 3 and a, in which it will be noted that a frame22 is provided with supports at its upper end idle pulleys 23 over whichcables 24: are positioned and these cables at at their lower ends haverings 25 or other suitable means for connecting the cables to the hubs26 of the front wheels 2'i"'of the wagon. Both of the cables 2% at oneside of the frame 22 are secured to and wound upon a drum 28 and thisdrum 28 is driven by a gear train 29 to which power is transmitted by abevelled pinion 30 on a shaft 31. A clutch 32 on the shaft 31 isoperated by means of a lever 33 and this lever 33 may be operatedmanually or automatically operated when the wagon body reaches asufficient incline which assures its being emptied, as will now bedescribed.

The lever 33 is of general L-shape and the free end of its lowerhorizontal portion is connected by a link 341 with an arm 35 whichlatter is pivotally connected to the frame 22. This arm 35 has an eye 36at its free end through which one of the cables 2a is guided in itsmovement onto the drum 28. A button 37 is fixed to the said cable 2% andwhen this button moves downwardly suffciently far to engage the eye 36and depress the arm 35, it will. through the medium of the link 34:,cause the operation of the lever 33 to separate the clutch members 32and stop the elevating action upon the wagon.

A motor 38 may be carried by the frame 1 or any other source of powermay be utilized to operate the working parts of the apparatus. it is,however, desirable in many instances to provide a motor on the support 1and this motor operates all of the workingparts of the apparatus abovedescribed.

rascaee While, of course, power may be transmitted to the conveyors andto the shaft 31 in any desired manner without departing from myinvention, 1 have illustrated as power transmitting means an arrangementof pulleys, belts. sprocket wheels and sprocket chains, which will nowbe described.

A belt 39 connects a pulley -l0 operated by the engine with a pulley d1on a shaft 42 supported on frame 1. A pulley 13 on the shaft 42 isconnected by a belt 44 with a pulley 45 on the blower shaft 46. Theendless conveyors 12 and 20 are driven by suitably arranged sprocketchains 47 and sprocket wheels 48 to give the desired speed to theconveyors and to allow for the hinged movement of the hopper. The powertransmission means is illustrated more or less diagranimatically in theseveral figures and as it is of the ordinary type, need not be describedin detail.

The shaft 31, above referred to, which operates the wagon tilting orelevating means, extends to the frame 11 and is connected to the latterin any desired manner. It is obvious that it is desirable to arrangethis shaft so that it could be conveniently disconnected if desired, butI have not attempted to illustrate any particular means for so doing assuch means will form no part of the present invention.

The operation is as follows: The apparatus is positioned as shown inFigure 1 with its discharge end projecting into the car 8 and may besupported upon a crossbar 49 secured across the entrance to the car togive the necessary elevation to the discharge end of the convey r.

As above stated, my improved apparatus is especially designed forhandling ear corn and this has been a material which has been diflicultto handle with apparatus heretofore known because of the danger ofbreaking up the ears, although my invention is, of course, not limitedto any particular material handled.

The wagon 18 is moved into position and the rings 25 placed over thehubs 26 of the front wheels 27. As the wagon is elevated, the angle ortilt given the body thereof will cause the material to discharge intothe hopper 16 and the conveyor 20 therein will carry the material ontothe inclined conveyor 12 and the latter will convey the ma terialupwardly and discharge the same through the chute 13 into the pneumatictube 6 where it comes in contact with the blast of air from the blower 4and is discharged through the branch pipe 7 and spouts 9 into the car.As the shaft 31, which operates the wagon tilting means, is connected tothe operating means of the conveyors, the tilting of the wagon will beautomatic and gradual so that the load can be uniformly discharged. henthe load is completely discharged, the wagon will be at a sufficientelevation to permit the button 37 on the cable 24: to engage the arm 35and, through the medium of link 34; and lever 33, release the clutch 32and permit the wagon to lower by gravity onto the ground.

Various slight changes might be made in the general form and arrangementof parts described without departing from the invention, and hence I donot limit myself to the precise details set forth, but consider myselfat liberty to make such changes and alterations as fairly fall withinthe spirit and scope of the appended claim.

I claim:

In a portable loading and unloading de- Vice, a movably supported frame,a blower mounted upon the frame, a pneumatic tube through which theblower dischargsQsaidL pneumatic tube being provided with an inletthrough the upper side thereof,"a chute extending upwardly from theinlet, an in clined conveyor carried by the frame and communicating atits upper end with the chute, and a hopper 'swingingly'supported at oneend upon the frame with the attached end thereof in communication withthe inclined conveyor,v said hopper being adapted for movement from aposition in whichit is substantially horizontally'disposed and in whichthe free end thereof is positioned rearwardly of the frame to a positionin which the 'free end-thereof is positioned above the frame.

JAMES ALVIN WORSHAM.

